WOMAN'S HOUR TODAY!

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Today's WH is as follows - Woman's Hour Election Debate. In a special extended 90 minute programme, Nuala McGovern hosts the Woman's Hour Election Debate. Senior women from the main political parties of Great Britain outline their priorities for women and answer your questions. Taking part are: Scottish National Party spokesperson for Consular Affairs and International Engagement Hannah Bardell; Reform UK candidate Maria Bowtell; Green Party spokesperson for Housing and Communities Ellie Chowns; Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper; Conservative Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work Mims Davies; Labour Party Chair and Shadow Secretary for Women and Equalities Anneliese Dodds, and Plaid Cymru’s Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts.

Questions via text 84844 or WhatsApp - 03700100444

I intend to send something like the following - Given that you are all designated senior women politicians, speaking as such on Woman's Hour, can we possibly decide an answer to the question - What is a woman?

Send in yours!

The feminist board, on a site for mothers, talking about a programme on 'Woman's Hour' asking 'what is a woman'

And your response is all about the rights, feelings, and concerns of men.

The labour party treated her in a disgraceful way. She went through hell for daring to agree that a woman has a cervix.

I think this program finally sorted out who I am going to vote for.

I'm against everything else reform stands for...but they will do as a protest vote for me in this election.

I will NOT vote for these parties who can barely bring themselves to acknowledge that men are not, and will never be women.

I would say feminism at its core is about securing and advancing women's and girl's rights, so while different people may have different ideas about how, feminism is for women whether they are mothers or not.

Other commenters have addressed the last sentence of your comment, and I understand that the vast majority of women would usually want to raise their children with their fathers (provided the fathers are fit for parenting), as well as spend as much as time with their little ones if finances permit, not just in the UK but in many other countries as well.

What is interesting is that while I'm not sure whether most women want to have a child in the UK, the rate of women wishing to become a parent someday is decreasing in multiple developed countries -- some of it may be due to lack of financial security and general unrest in the world, but we also need to consider the increasing number of women childfree by choice (including those who find parenthood unappealing even if they are not financially insecure).

Oh ffs not the bearded transmen again. Offering women the protection of female-only spaces does not necessarily mean transmen will be compelled to use them. Not everything is symmetrical

I missed this - what did the Tory woman say?

And so many people are OBSESSED with telling us how OBSESSED we are.

See, I can do hyperbole too 🤓

Yawn

'Where men are in power, men are the arbiters of social reality: what men say is taken for fact; men possess the capital, the connections, and the confidence to catapult their interests to the top of the political agenda; and people in general – women most of all – are socialized to sympathize with men, reflexively allying themselves with the male master class for love or money or simple survival. To paraphrase Sonia Johnson, we’ve been trained to keep our eyes on the guys.'

https://wlrnmedia.com/2024/06/12/gender-identity/

And I'm not sure being dependent on the state instead of a man is working out that well for many women.

The State doesn't leave women with broken noses. Some men do.

How do you think Reform are going to make you have babies?

Look up Romania's Decree 770 as an example of what happens when the State decides that women need to have more children. Also, the "Three Ks" policy of the Third Reich.

The State does leave women who have left their abusive male partners on the streets because they won't provide single sex refuges though.

I know of a women local to me who died on the streets after leaving her abusive husband.

The state isn't doing that well for women.

It's the old 'do you want to be controlled / financially reliant on one man or the state / all men' argument. The latter is more dangerous for a lot of women. The former is more dangerous for some.

Some left wingers seem offended that lots of women would choose the former - given that shitty choice.

Of course we'd all prefer to have women actually being rewarded for doing unpaid caring rather than penalised and abused but that's not where we are.

It's now a motherhood pay gap, not a sex-based pay gap.

Oh well, how predictable!
you ask “what is a woman?” and they all (except Reform) start talking about how bloody kind the women they cannot define need to be to the others that take over the answer reply!!!
The state of the handmaidens!

All politicians have to say is “Women are adult females. Sex change is impossible. In some circumstances a person’s biological sex is important and we will recognize and protect female single sex spaces, services and sports. Trans people will be rightly protected from harassment and discrimination and accommodation made for their needs but with recognition that their biological sex hasn’t changed”

Job done. Move on

I don't really have a fixed position on immigration. In general I believe it's a good thing, but not without proper infrastructure to support it which is what this country has failed to do.

I will note that unmanaged immigration tends to disproportionately affect poor people already living here which is something most left wing politicans fail to engage with - rather labelling anyone not full on pro-all-immigration racist.

I will also note that illegal immigration is disproportionately men rather than women and children. I personally would quite like to increase the immigration of refugees (families, women and children) from Afghanistan - a place where women and girls don't have human rights at all currently. I can't see anyone discussing this at all though.

It must be the case that more illegal immigration affects both the number and conditions of those trying to get refugee status in the UK legally. It's illogical to suggest otherwise.

Bloody hell. I'm fifteen minutes in and there's been so much bullshit spouted already.

They're mostly waffling on about how important it is to be respectful and kind to trans people...what about being respectful to WOMEN?

The labour candidate was just saying how trans people need to "live as a woman" for two years and have a proven medical diagnosis of dysphoria. How does one prove you "live as a woman"? wtf 🤦‍♀️

The state housed Karen White with vulnerable women and thus was partly responsible for the subsequent sexual assaults.

That's true, but also not relevant to a conversation about whether mothers are safer depending upon state benefits or depending upon a man's earnings when raising children.

I missed the discussion ( it seems I am using the words loosely) and was going to catch up on it later, but having read through this thread I don’t think I could bear to. What a depressing state of affairs we have reached when women who have stood up on their back legs to stand for election are apparently prepared to sell out 50% of their electorate at the first question.

This is why I will be volunteering for a local POW candidate (sadly not in my constituency).

Women who stand for election who are 100% pro-woman and pro-child safeguarding are rare. The system is so toxic and so patriarchal that perhaps we should not be surprised that most women successful within it are handmaidens. But we should do what we can to support women brave enough to go against the grain of shameless dick pandering.

Yes, as many PP have said, what about being respectful to WOMEN on WOMEN'S hour. FFS. Maybe they should just name it 'middle class women who like dick pandering' hour.

yes, I'm delighted that there is a POW candidate (KJK herself) standing here

One of the things that annoys me intensely is the constant refrain that people with a trans identity are struggling with dysphoria and leading very difficult lives and we should all be very sorry for them and try our best to be kind. Unless you are living under a rock, it is abundantly clear that a great many males with a trans identity are not struggling with dysphoria in the slightest. They cross-dress because it excites them and if they can do it in public and get a reaction from others that's even more exciting. It has nothing whatever to do with being' born in the wrong body'. Why is these men's desire to live out their fetishes more worthy of respect than the needs of women, children and other vulnerable people to have safety and privacy from predators and fetishists?

If you can't bear to vote for any of the candidates then consider voting, but "spoiling your ballot paper" rather than putting an X in the box - the total number of spoiled papers is always included in the count and at least gives some indication of dissatisfaction.

I spoiled mine with "I'll vote for a candidate who knows what a woman is" and will probably do so again.

... oh yes, and one of the politicians (I forget which, but one of the handwringers) mentioned in passing that there are far more trans-identified people now - she may even have specified that she was thinking of young people. Join the dots! Use your brain!

Why has there been a very sudden huge increase in young women and teenage girls stating that they are actually boys/men? Why aren't equally large numbers of older women suddenly revealing that they too have always felt they were truly meant to be male? If this was all about it not being socially acceptable to transition in earlier times, surely you'd expect the older women to be transitioning in droves?

Why is this disproportionately affecting young women on the autistic spectrum or who've been through some kind of trauma or who have pre-existing mental health problems (or all three)?

Don't you know that young women and teenage girls have always been particularly susceptible to social contagion, as documented for hundreds of years?

Aren't you concerned about the effects on this generation of social media and unrestricted access to violent, misogynist porn? Doesn't it make you wonder if one of the reasons these young women and girls want to identify out of being female is because being female looks such an unattractive option right now?

But no, none of these questions were asked. Just #bekind. Let them crowdfund for a double mastectomy at 18. Equivocate over banning the use of puberty blockers and cross-hormones even there's no research proving they're safe and quite a bit suggesting they're not.

I could scream.

No at least The State doesn't usually punch you in the face, but then neither do most men.
At least you get to personallty choose the man you have a child with and the arrangments yuo make with him, so yuo have a high degree of control.

It's odd how The State is viewed as a benign constant prescence instaed of a collective of the individual views of the country, half of whom are men you don't know and probaby wouldn't like.

You seem very worried about Reform forcing you to have babies but at the same time beleive The State is always something which will support women and they should rely on. When in fact it can chnage policy at any point.

Women should be taking decisions in their own best interests, as relying on The State is a risky bet.

A good man is better than an unpredictable Government.